A powerful punch sent me flying back. I landed on my ass and rolled to the side, avoiding the black high heel that tried to stomp on my groin, spinning out a kick of my own. Poison backstepped, lashing out with her whip as she gained distance. I snapped out the threaded cane, her leather whip barely slipping back before I could tear it apart with my trick weapon's slashing metal blades.
Well, try. Poison's ki made her whip insanely durable.
Then Poison disappeared from my vision. I instinctively blocked above me with my threaded cane, snapping it back into a solid piece before a heavy axe kick could smash into my skull.
"Ooooh," Poison spun around and kicked me in the solar plexus, grinning. "Getting faster, boss. Sure you want me to get all excited? I might start really trying to tear you apart."
I grinned from the ground, kipping back up to my feet despite the pain radiating in my chest. "Isn't that the point? If I can fight you, I can fight anyone."
"Flatterer," she purred, disappearing in another flash of speed. This time, I swung out a kick of my own, forcing her back.
In the background, Morgan watched from a training post, cawing every once in a while as she chewed on a hunk of beef I'd left her.
It had been two months since I'd summoned her, and Poison was becoming one of my favorite people. Granted, she was also someone who loved making me go red with embarrassment. She flirted constantly, teased a lot, and never met a joke she wasn't willing to tell.
But she was a lot smarter than you would think. Maybe that was from being one of the top folks in a gang, maybe it was from managing her own wrestlers and dealing with contracts and what-not, but she had a good head on her shoulders. She had a good mind to bounce my ideas off of.
If only she didn't fight like a sexy wrestling dominatrix. At one point, she got me on my knees, smashed my face to the ground with my ass in the air, and then… well.
Riding crops hitting the ass cheeks hurt.
I managed to fight well enough to stop ending up in that position. Usually. She was still unholy levels of strong, with over a decade of fighting other superhumans under her belt. So hey, any amount of not getting my ass kicked was great.
One thing she helped me do was turn the hodgepodge of skills I had into a coherent fighting style.
In total, I had internal manuals for Lingshu Chin Na specifically, whip usage from the Belmont bloodline, and most recently… Kung Fu. Holy shit Kung Fu.
Kung Fu isn't just one style, it's allChinese martial arts. Which was a long fucking list, with a whole lot of breadth. Not all of it useful, but a huge amount worth learning. Over 1000 years of fighting techniques stretching across generations of war, strife, and genocides. All in my head now, along with the Lingshu Chin Na from Kengan Ashura.
Luckily, I had a teacher to help me narrow things down. That and time. Months of training for eight hours a day, working out, learning, was building me up.
Bonus, Kung Fu had techniques dedicated to fighting in armor with a sword/club and shield! Not quite the same as the styles common in Westeros, but still perfect for my needs.
With a happy smile, I went back to getting my ass kicked.
I didn't just spend time training with Poison, playing with Morgan, and taking care of the Keep and my lands. I also bought a boat about a month into my new regimen.
"You bought a tiny boat?" Poison asked, watching as the three guys I'd hired on hitched it up to the makeshift pier we'd made. It was built into the beach nearest to the keep, tall enough to avoid getting swept away by the intense waves of the ocean.
"It's not tiny," I said, looking over at Poison. Clad in a red dress, she was very distracting for the three sailors I had hired to be my new crew. "It's a… what'd you call this type of ship, Bracks?"
A ruddy faced man with a scar on his chin didn't answer. He was staring at Poison, who winked. That seemed to snap him out of it. "Ah, it's called a keelboat, milord. Fine little vessel. Perfect for a bit of fishing, traveling the rivers, can even ship some small supplies."
"Huh. I thought you were getting one of those big ass ones." She said casually, ignoring the aghast look her language got her.
"You know how expensive one of those are? Even this guy was pricey," I patted it fondly. "But it's mine now. What should we name her, Bracks?"
My new 'captain' jumped, then looked thoughtful. My new crew had been the first three guys I'd been sent to hire. Former deckhands of a ship that had been taken down by Ironborn raiders, they didn't have anywhere to go, and when I offered good pay for an easy job of fishing and sometimes going up river, well.
Fair pay does a lot in medieval times.
After a moment of thought, Bracks shrugged. "Maybe we name her the 'Pink Rose'?"
"Pink Rose?" I asked. Then I noticed him glance at Poison before blushing heavily. For such a big tough sailor guy, that was cute.
Poison gave me a shameless grin and wink. I rolled my eyes and held out my arm. On cue, Morgan landed on my arm from the sky, my crow girl letting out a small caw. "You already have a big head. How about Pink Crow?"
"Egh, no. Pink Rose or I walk," Poison teased.
I was going to jokingly fight back, when Morgan pecked at my hand. I glanced at her only to reel back at the heated look my crow was giving me. "Et tu, brute?"
"Caaaw," she admonished me.
"Fine, fine." I sighed. "Pink Rose, scourge of the seas, you are thus named." I slapped the side of my new ship and-
Click!
[Accolade for your house: Nice boat to begin the fleet!]
A Bronze step of Full Pockets. The step is yours to take…
"Ah, there it is again!" Poison said, noticing whatever face I always made when a new ticket came alive. "Been a month! Come on, let's see what you got."
She pranced off happily, leaving Bracks, me, and the two other sailors behind. I rolled my eyes. "Bracks, see about fishing up some food, will ya? Don't need to do anything crazy, just see what you can get."
"Aye, milord." He said grimly. "We'll bring up a whale if we have to."
"Don't try to impress the girl."
I left him sputtering with a grin on my face.
In truth, I had gotten over my initial worries about the gacha system. I'd been afraid that it might be dangerous to me, or have some hidden drawback.
(And truthfully the fanfic writer side of me was very iffy on the concept as a mechanic.)
Still, I'd gotten over it… only to spend a full month training with Poison without the gacha thing coming up. I finally decided to ignore it, only for a damn boat to trigger it.
And apparently it thought I was starting a fleet. Still. At least I got another cool thing?
What I got out of that roll stuck with the trend of 'low level' items being amazingly useful for me. A very nice looking ring shaped like a flower with a series of green gems in the petals.
[Cloranthy Ring]
[Uncommon Item]
Dark Souls - This ancient ring, engraved with a large green flower, is of unknown origin. Hastens the regeneration of stamina and recovery from exhaustion.
Like, come on man. How useful is that!? I was literally trying to train as much as I could, and the Cloranthy Ring doubled how much time I could spend doing that. Of course, I had to be careful about mental exhaustion. No matter how much training you do, you can't train away the need to rest, both in terms of sleep and mental breaks.
Back to the grind. My new fishing vessel headed out every day to do its thing, and I went back to my routine.
I spent a good amount of time meditating, reading and writing for leisure, and just spending time with Morgan, Poison, Umfred, and the other people around me.
Also, pizza. I did some experimentation with that, but forcing it to make specific things was impossible. It made changes based on my mood and the people who use it, but it never was something specific.
So I couldn't just decide my favorite pizza just so happened to have viable seeds that could be harvested. Bullshit, but understandable.
It was weird. I was in Westeros, a universe renowned for being dark and edgy. And I felt like I was happy. I missed my family from my old universe, sure, but I knew they were okay. In the meantime, I was getting stronger, taking care of myself, making good money, making good friends, and getting lots of fresh air.
We'd gotten the herbs from Resident Evil to start growing even, and would begin distributing them soon, a full field of them. Of course, once we started shipping them to Gulltown for a town healer to start selling, and to a few other places as goodwill gifts, I also sent a batch out to two other people.
Lysa and Catelyn. They were both still living in Riverrun after Petyr's whole shenanigan with Brandon Stark (that bastard). I made sure to keep the letters professional as possible, making it clear the herbs were medicine, how they were meant to be used, and encouraging them to have the herbs tested by their maester, as well as a simple apology for being an ass.
In the most professional way I could say it of course. I wasn't sure how to apologize to them for things I'd never done. Especially Lysa. I had memories of them both. In my mind, I saw two young girls, one more confident, one more shy, both pretty and nervous.
Petyr… his impressions were different. Sadder, more bitter. One day I'd have to pay his debts, whether I wanted to or not. Especially to Lysa. Especially Lysa…
The goodwill gifts of the same herbs went to other places by raven. Winterfell, the Vale, and Storm's End. Places that I knew were run by folks who were honorable and not about to join Aerys for any reason. Hopefully, enough of them would try my product to spread the word. Having access to the herbs would be a game changer in wars.
They weren't instant heals like in the games, but just the green herbs applied to a small cut after being mixed with a small amount of clean water made the cut heal very quickly, over the course of a couple of days. Mixed with the others, the effects would be far greater.
Green herbs helped with exhaustion, healing, and I assumed immune function, since anyone who took them hadn't gotten sick much since, with one guy getting over a cold in a day instead of a week. Blue helped neutralize toxins, and was great with sobering folks, though it did nothing for hangovers. Red enhanced the functions of the others, like a catalyst for them, and yellow seemed to act like a super-vitamin.
Though it should be said, this was all based on my knowledge from Lingshu Chin Na's and Kung Fu's medical information, as well as what we could figure out from trial and error over the months. One of the village women, a lady named Mary, was slightly in charge of testing the stuff out. She wasn't a doctor, but she took care of folks as best as she could when they were sick, and was very interested in the whole thing.
Hopefully, once more people figured out the value of what I had, it would be spread around. Although I did think I should name them something other than by their colors. Then again, was it part of their charm?
Regardless, they were a boon.
With Morgan, I could send letters across the land faster than anyone else. An intelligent bird is better at sending mail, since she had a focus that none of the ravens the rest of Westeros used could match. My crow was well fed as she travelled on my behalf, making as many in-roads as a man of my meager stature could.
Things continued that way. I kept growing as a fighter, getting more money together, and trying to enhance things, repairing portions of the Keep, improving the village, and waiting for the other shoe to drop. Money from the warhammers and peat collected and was spent on necessities where I had to, taxes carefully sent away, and excess saved.
Poison, funny enough, also learned some stuff from me. Physically, she was my superior in every way, but with the huge library of martial arts I now had in my head, from Bajiquan to Tai Chi, to various forms of Mok Gar and Wing Chun, she was willing to pull some stuff for her own style.
As Bruce Lee said, "Absorb what is useful, discard what is useless and add what is specifically your own." What a legend.
For four months, I bided my time, trained, planned, and worked, with Poison helping me.
After all that time, I was immensely saddened when peace was finally broken. Four months after I'd woken up in the body of Petyr, two months after I began training with Poison, in 282 AC, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen disappeared with Lyanna Stark. Presumably kidnapping her. I wasn't sure how true that was.
The show said it was a girl in love with a handsome mad prince. The books, as far as I knew, didn't quite get around to explaining it. Didn't matter really, not in the immediate case.
The rest happened as I remembered. Brandon Stark, who had been on his way to marry Catelyn, instead rushed to demand Rhaeger give him back his sister. King Aerys Targaryen had Brandon and his friends arrested. Brandon's father came to try and save him. And then King Aerys killed Rickard Stark with fire in front of Brandon, the eldest Stark literally choking himself to death trying to save his dad.
The old Petyr would have laughed. As for me, I didn't have any real hate for Brandon. All I felt was sad at the loss. I couldn't stop it. If I'd headed out to interfere, why would Brandon and his dad believe me? Why would anyone? I had to play the game.
And of course, when Aerys demanded the head of Eddard Stark from Jon Arryn, the old man instead raised his banners and declared war.
And Gulltown, rather than joining him, stayed loyal to the Targaryen's.
"What do we do?" Umfred asked, looking haunted. "War…"
"It's fine, we knew something like this might happen," I told Umfred. Along with him, Poison, Morgan, Mary the village healer, and I were all in my office in the keep. I'd set up a table in the center, with the battle lines drawn as best as I could have them drawn.
"You knew?" Mary, who was there as the representative of my subjects in the village, looked terrified and confused. She was a short and matronly woman, with black hair going grey. She had a small patch on her shoulder painted with green, red, blue, and yellow stripes, something I was trying to make a thing for healers.
"I suspected. Tensions have been rising in the kingdoms for too long without any attempt from cooler heads to calm people down. And Aerys is insane."
I looked up. Umfred and Mary were looking at me aghast. "It's true. The king is a madman. Hard for a kingdom not to have some level of strife when the man in charge is obsessed with burning people alive."
"My lord," Umfred said, sounding aggrieved. "I understand, but please, maintain some decorum, I beg you."
"Very well. The King is unfit to rule."
"Yeah, he sounds like a real asshole," Poison said simply. Umfred sighed, while Poison turned to look at me. "So what's the plan, boss?"
"We choose between two options." I pointed at the map. "I don't have to join the war. Thankfully, we are in a very sweet position of being just important enough to be able to have money, and so out of the way no one cares about us."
"But you are still going to fight," Umfred said, realization dawning on his face. "This was why you were training so hard."
I gave him a slightly sardonic smile. "Yeah. And now I have two choices."
Pointing at the map with the threaded cane, I aimed at Gulltown. "Jon Arryn and his forces are going to have to take Gulltown as soon as possible. He can't fight a war while Gulltown might stab him in the ass."
"Buuuuut?" Poison asked pointedly.
"While that battle is happening, Eddard Stark needs to get North." I pointed at Winterfell. "Aerys, Rhaeger, they've ironically woken a sleeping dragon. If Eddard can get there safely, he can gather a force pissed off at the death of their Lord and his heir, and come down with a hell of a lot of power at his back. If I can help him do that, we'll be in good shape."
I crossed my arms. "Thankfully, I have a boat now. We can send a letter to him, let him know we'll meet him at the river, then go with him to the North. Poison, dress warm."
As Poison nodded, Mary gasped. "You cannot take a lady into war!"
"Ah, you are so sweet, Mary!" Poison said, giving the older woman a hug, rubbing her cheek against her. "Don't worry, I'm just going to head up to keep our little lord from getting into too much trouble."
Mary gave me an odd look like I had offended her greatly. While I suspected a few people now knew Poison was some type of dangerous, Mary obviously wasn't one of them.
"What about us, ser?" Umfred asked.
"I've set up a bunch of contingencies in case the Keep and its surroundings end up in danger. Worse case scenario, you are to evacuate and head to one of three locations with all the gold I have and trade it for your survival."
All three locations were the Eyrie. Jon Arryn was the only honorable motherfucker I could depend on to keep my people safe if they ended up under attack.
"For now, Umfred, I'm depending on you to protect the Keep and be ready to run if need be." I said firmly. "Mary, keep the village healthy and make sure we send warhammers, peat blocks and herbs out regularly, they'll be worth more during war times. Poison and I will take the Pink Rose to meet with Eddard Stark."
"Are you sure about that?" Umfred asked, the older man looking nervous. "You did try to fight the man's brother. What if he thinks you want revenge?"
"Oh, he'll for sure think that," I said, nodding. "But his choices are my nice boat with food and warmth, or whatever he can find in a hurry."
"So we're hoping he's so desperate he'll ignore that you tried to kill his brother?" Poison said sarcastically.
"And I will hold off on comments that Brandon was such a good warrior that only he could kill himself."
The whole room winced, including the crow.
Click!
[Accolade for your house: Fatally terrible joke]
A Bronze step of many Faces appears before you. The step is yours to take.
"Yeah, that's appropriate." I grumbled. Seriously, even the gacha system hated my comedy?
"Anyways. As of now, our tiny ignored little section of Westeros is now officially at war on the side of Jon Arryn. Our fighting force of one man, a lady, a crow, and a boat are heading out in an hour. I'll see you all then."
Umfred and Mary nodded, while Poison and Morgan stayed with me. "Okay. Hit it." Poison said eagerly.
The low-level roll I'd gotten. "Sure I shouldn't wait till later?" I teased.
Poison rolled my eyes and pushed my arm, forcing me through the halls and outside where no one would see us. Out there, I snapped my fingers.
"Okay! First ticket in two months! Let's hit it!"
That was true. After the Cloranthy ring, I had two quiet months with nothing. Getting a ticket for a horrible joke of all things though…
The roll began. In the single instant, I hoped for someone similar to Poison to show up. An ally I could rely on. Maybe someone from her world, like Sagat, that crazy hot chick Juri, or god forbid Cody Travers overpowered ass.
Instead, nothing popped into existence. What arrived instead was sort of… like a summon spell?
[Obsidian Gargoyles]
|Rarity: Uncommon Familiar|
Hota - Obsidian statues of Gargoyle's given life, these flying animated statues are deceptively fast, durable and strong. Being able to tear a grown man in half like they are paper and ignore small arms. You get a small army of these creatures, their numbers increase as you get stronger, starting at 5.
"Oh… that's really useful," I mumbled. "Like, really fucking useful."
"What, what happened!?" Poison asked, befuddled. "Was it another skill?"
"No, it's a familiar like you and Morgan," I said, though it felt weird to call my friends 'familiars'. I raised a hand. Inside my own… soul? My internal spell book? Either way, I felt the spell/summon. Like Fireball, but different. WIth a small tug on the internal reserves of energy inside me, I activated the spell.
In front of me, the ground split open. A clawed hand rose up. Poison and Morgan watched with me, a fascinated look on the pinkette's face, as five stone hands rose from the earth. The figures beneath dug their way out, rising up until they stood taller than even Poison in her high heels.
"Cooool!" Poison said, pumping her fist. "Do they talk? Can you make them say 'I live again!'?"
"Doesn't look like it." I looked over the gargoyles. They had large wings, a trio of horns on their head, and eyes that glowed a horrifying red color. While they did move, it was in an uncanny way. Like stop motion in real life. They didn't make any realistic movements like breathing, just sort of hovered over us.
I mentally connected with them through the… spell? I guess. "I want you guys to defend this Keep and the village from anyone being hostile. That means if anyone who isn't from this area attacks or tries to hurt someone, you guys take care of it. Non-lethal for beatings and thievery, lethal for attempted murder and rape. Other than that, stay hidden as statues at all times. Three of you will be up on the Keep, two of you go to the village. Got it?"
All five of the gargoyles nodded. When their wings beat, it made our hair fly back, with Poison's dress blowing in the wind, and they headed to their destinations.
"That's a relief," I mumbled. "I'd rather stick with you, but I did worry about the village."
"You think the gacha system is trying to help?" Poison asked curiously.
"Garlic blood."
Poison snorted. "Hey, maybe that'll end up being useful one day."
"Unlikely." I grumbled. "Okay, let's head out."
Umfred
Umfred headed outside to check on his lord. When he saw Peter, he and Poison were looking at five demonic looking statues.
Umfred immediately turned around. Peter knew best, and if that meant somehow making horrifying looking statues from nowhere, Umfred would have to accept that.
And when Umfred noticed three of those statues sitting on top of the keep and two in the village, he made a point of avoiding them.
Eddard Stark
Eddard Stark was having the worst time of his life.
His father and brother were murdered. The king was after his head. His best friend and mentor were off to battle, and his only way to help was to run North to gather support.
He was now traveling alone, rushing through the Mountains of the Moon, aiming to reach the Fingers. If he could reach White Harbor, he could get to the North, and call his banners.
So he traveled, on horseback, through the trails of the mountains, his mind constantly racing. Despair warred with pure numbness, worry, and a deep ill feeling in his stomach. Lyanna was still out there. He needed to make it home. To gather his people.
That was when the crow arrived. It landed on his shoulder from out of the sky, calm as could be. Eddard had a moment to be surprised. Then he noticed the letter tied to the crow's leg. Carefully he pulled the letter away and opened it.
A map. A fairly good one, if a bit rough. It depicted the trail he was on, with a line heading to the river, an 'X' marked on one spot along the riverbanks, with the word 'boat' written in big letters.
And underneath, in smaller letters. 'Feed the crow please.'
Eddard stared at the map. Then he crumbled it up, shoved it into his mouth, and swallowed it, thinking.
A message to meet? But should he trust it? It could have been a trap?
Except, how would someone know where he was? He was traveling alone, and only Jon and Robert knew why or where. Was this Jon, sending him a message? Or someone loyal to the king laying a trap? But how would they know where he was?
The crow tapped his head. Eddard looked at it, then remembered. "Oh. Um," he rummaged through his pockets, pulling out a piece of dried apple. "Here."
The crow took a hold of it, nodded at him, then flew upwards, disappearing into the trees. Eddard rode on, thinking. Finally, he sighed.
He didn't have any real choices. If this person could find him in the woods and they knew his plan, they could simply ambush him later. He had to hope that this person truly was on his side. His other choice was to turn back, travel for days to the Eyrie, and explain that a message on a crow had scared him enough that he turned back.
The thought of that rolled his stomach. Not from shame, but from the time that would waste, time that he could use to fight.
So Eddard rode on, reaching the river. He got off of his horse, tied it to a tree, and carefully prowled through the woods, looking around for any signs of ambush. When he got to the river, he stopped.
A boat, with three men sat on the beach next to the boat, fishing poles out as a fire cracked next to them in the chill air. The men looked like smallfolk, fishermen, not warriors of any kind. The boat was small but sturdy looking. As Eddard watched, the door of the boat's small cabin opened, and two people stepped out. Eddard stared at them.
One of them was a man. He was tall, and dressed in intimidating black armor, full plate armor at that, with a pair of long black horns on the top. It wasn't the most ostentatious he had ever seen, that would have been Rhaeger with his red gems, but it was beautiful, with carvings all across it. He had a sword at his side that was of the same size as Ice, and a large shield on his back.
And for some reason, a cane? It was held in front of him with both hands, tip pressed down into the boat, which helped the oddly intimidating aura around him.
Next to the man standing with an intimidating aura, was a woman of surpassing beauty. She was even taller than the man, with soft pink hair, powerful features, and a flowing black dress underneath a thick fur coat.
No one else, but the man in armor alone made Eddard nervous. Still. Who took a woman without armor with them to an ambush? Even the Mormont women wore armor when they fought.
Eddard took some time to walk along the river bank, double checking to make sure of his safety. When he found no one or any sign of an ambush, he finally came out, still wary.
"Lord Stark!" The man in the armor called, his voice slightly muffled by the armor. "Good to meet you. The Pink Rose welcomes you aboard."
Eddard stopped on the river bank. The three small folk stared at him, but didn't seem ready for any violence. "Ser. Who might you be?"
"Someone who was beaten by your brother." Eddard stiffened. The man laughed. "And held no grudge for him. Brandon Stark only beat out my own idiocy. I would repay him if I could, but an absolute madman of a king beat me to it."
The man took off his helmet. To Eddard's surprise, the man was close to his own age, his face only slightly dusted with the beginnings of a beard. "Come inside so we can take care of guests' rights, then we can talk."
Eddard hesitated. "Do guest rights count on boats?"
The man shrugged. "Honestly, I am not sure. It doesn't matter. I'm offering it. And the gods would be enraged if I offered it and broke it. Legal loopholes are for men, not divinities."
Eddard thought that over, then entered the ship up the wooden gangplank.
Inside the ship's cabin was a small but cozy space. A tiny table had been set up, with cups filled with water and strange pastries on wooden plates. Eddard picked one up, confused. It was curved into a strange shape, with white granules sprinkled atop it.
"Pretzel," the man said, sitting across from Eddard, the woman taking a spot between them confidently. "Or, one of my attempts at them. It's bread, and it's sprinkled with salt. Please. I'd rather you understand you are safe before we talk."
Eddard hesitated. The woman rolled her eyes, reached out, and ripped off a portion of the 'pretzel' and swallowed it aggressively, before taking Eddard's cup and drinking some of it. "There you go. Safe to eat. Now sit down, suge, you look exhausted."
What was a 'suge'?
Eddard, rather than asking that, simply sat and took the pretzel, biting into it. The bread was soft, and a bit strange tasting, though the salt helped a bit. The man across from him sighed. "Sorry. Can't quite get the recipe right on that."
"It's all right. I don't mind it," Eddard said politely. Then he took the cup and sipped his water. Once he was done, the man clapped.
"Good! Now. My name is Peter Baelish."
Eddard stared at him. He remembered him. A young man who challenged Brandon to a duel for the hand of Catelyn Tully. The news had reached him of course, with Robert laughing about it when he'd heard as well. "You aren't how I pictured you, ser."
Peter laughed. "Yeah, I gained some weight." He then turned serious. "My condolences, by the way. I didn't know him well, but I know your brother was beloved, as was your father. I hope you get the chance to bring the man who killed them justice."
Eddard nodded, holding his emotions back stoically. "Thank you, ser. Are you offering your aid?"
If he spoke with suspicion, who could blame him?
"As much as I can," Peter waved at the walls around them. "My boat is yours until we get to White Harbor. It should be able to withstand a storm if need be, and we have enough provisions to last more than long enough. My men are all trained sailors, and we have three fighters."
Eddard nodded, before thinking. "One of the sailors are-"
"Oh no. That would be her," Peter nodded towards… the woman!?
When she gave him a wink, Eddard winced. "Ser, surely you can't be-"
"Poison here is one of the most dangerous people in the world," Peter said confidently. "You know the Mormont woman can fight. And Poison is more than a match for any of them."
Eddard glanced at her. She smiled just a bit. Eddard knew that woman could fight of course, but he was used to them wearing armor. Though she was muscular, despite her beauty.
"But we won't be able to prove that until we get somewhere safe. For now, will you be willing to trust me?"
Eddard hesitated.
Peter smiled. "Good. You don't want to trust too quickly. People, unless taught otherwise, will naturally do what is best for themselves. So don't trust me. Trust that I'm doing what's best for me. King Aerys is a raping mad man, a lunatic, who is actively holding back the nation, killing innocent people for the sake of it. I will never be able to make a safe and prosperous home until he is off the throne and replaced with a better man."
Peter shrugged. "Winter is Coming, right? We can't prepare for it without good leadership."
Hearing his house words come out of Peter Baelish's lips might have been the oddest thing to happen all day. Eddard nodded. "Very well. But if you betray me…"
"Lord Eddard Stark, I can't promise you will be happy with every decision I make. But I will never betray you as long as you are an honorable man. Fair?"
Eddard mulled those words over, before nodding. When Peter held out a hand, Eddard Stark took it. In other worlds, that would have led to his downfall.
Here, it remained to be seen if that would be the case.
Then Peter made a strange face. The woman, Poison, on seeing it, let out a delighted gasp. "Oh hey! You get something good?"
"Yeah!" Peter looked at her, grinning. "Third tier!"
"Hell yeah!"
They slapped hands together, leaving Eddard even more unsure than before.
Peter Baelish
"He is a serious kid, isn't he?" Poison said later, as we sailed along the river towards the sea.
Eddard was currently at the front of the ship, staring out in front of us, a hand on his sword. He was a bit unsteady as we sailed over the waves, but fine otherwise. He was also eating a pizza.
Yes, of course we brought the infinite pizza SCP with us. It was permanent hot food wherever we went, a godsend on a small vessel with no oven.
The sailors loved it. Eddard hadn't said much, but he was on his third slice.
Also, helping Eddard and giving guest rights gave me two tickets? So one big one for allying with Eddard, another for guest rights with a high ranking member of Westeros nobility… At least, I hoped it was that, and not really for giving pizza to a northerner.
[Accolade for your house: Pizza in the North]
A Bronze step of many Faces appears before you. The step is yours to take.
Pizza in the North. Peace in the North. Poison found it funny.
"In his defense, he did lose his dad and brother." I pointed out.
Poison shrugged. "Yeah. It's sad when the people who give a shit about you go."
Morgan flew down from the forest alongside the river, landing on the pizza box. It opened a moment later, a tiny pizza within, which she happily took into her mouth before flying off.
Poison then shuddered, rubbing her arms. "Goddamn, it's getting cold."
"And it'll get colder. At some point you'll end up having to wear long sleeves," I teased. I looked around the boat. The sailors were doing their thing. Eddard was brooding at the front of the ship.
I felt the tickets inside of me. A small one, sure, but also the beeg one. When it appeared, I felt tempted to hit it instantly.
It was the second time a really big one arrived.
[Accolade for your house: Safe ship in a rough harbor]
A Gold step of many Faces appears before you. The step is yours to take.
And I couldn't even hit it. We were on a small boat on the ocean, I couldn't risk it.
I disciplined myself, focusing on the journey instead. "Lord Stark! I want to plan things out, come inside!"
He turned, surprised, then nodded and walked back, only stumbling a little.
In the small cabin, Poison unfurled a map across the table. "Okay, boys. So our plan is to come around the Fingers," she traced her finger along the map. "Into the Bite, hopefully avoiding the worst of the storm, then up into White Harbor. From there, it should be smooth sailing to take Ned, you don't mind if I call you Ned?"
Eddard shook his head, though he was staring at her non-plussed.
"Perfect. Then we take Ned home, get a big army, and then take the fight to Aerys."
"There are some issues we need to deal with," I said firmly. "Getting the army together is step one. Planning the best way to fight is step 2. Eddard, we need to trade on your name. Morgan can fly to anywhere and back in the course of a day as long as it isn't too far."
"Hell yeah!" Morgan said. When Eddard spun to stare at her, she preened her feathers.
"Did she-"
"Crows can mimic human speech," I snapped, still staring at the map. "Lord Stark?"
"Yes," he shook his head, focusing. "I'll write a letter to Wyman Manderly, to let him know of our arrival. He has been a staunch supporter of my family for decades."
"Good, good." I pointed at the map. "We'll stop here for a night at the end of the river to send out the letter."
"Will your crow be able to find its way back to you?" Eddard asked, looking skeptical.
"Morgan can find me in the heart of a storm as arrows rain from the sky. She'll come back." I said confidently.
My crow landed on my shoulder and pecked at my cheek affectionately.
At the end of the river, Poison and I snuck off to roll the tickets while Eddard and the sailors bedded down for a quick sleep.
"What are you hoping for, suga?" Poison asked once we stopped walking.
"I mean, another Street Fighter like you would be cool," I said. "Or a small army. If I can get something that can help us with this war, we'll be in good hands."
I hit the rolls. After a short moment, the roll stopped. And I felt… torn?
[Adept Blunt Weapon Mastery]
[Rarity: Rare Skill]
You are very talented at wielding blunt weapons such as hammers and clubs. When you are holding any blunt weapon you can exert almost supernatural levels of strength with them.
"I got a huge boost to my ability to use blunt weapons," I said, blinking. "Man, they really want me using my threaded cane."
"It's a good weapon!" Poison said cheerfully. She chuckled. "But you seem disappointed."
"Not disappointed. It's a huge deal." I hit the second ticket while speaking. "But I can keep getting stronger no matter what. I'd rather the tickets give me stuff that working out and training won't give me now, like-"
The second ticket stopped. And the air in front of me split. Just like when Poison had appeared. I stared at the bright hole in space that appeared. Then the hole got bigger. And bigger. And bigger, until it was almost eight feet tall.
"What is happening!?" Poison said, stepping in front of me with her whip in hand.
"I don't know! It's like when I summoned you, but bigger?" I watched carefully as the air seemed to sing.
Then, a brown boot stepped out of the light. Legs covered in blue jeans, a massive chain used as a belt, a bright pink shirt… massive. Fucking massive, a man with more muscles than I'd seen outside of comic books. And long black hair surrounding a somewhat dopey face.
[ Hugo]
[Uncommon Familiar]
Street Fighter - Originally a member of the Mad Gear Gang. Hugo is a giant slab of a man. A bit dimwitted with anger issues. Also a world class wrestler and proud of it. Loves potatoes.
"You have got to be kidding me!" I let out, startled.
"Hugo!" Poison said excitedly.
"Eh?" the dopey looking guy looked around, then smiled when he saw Poison. His voice was thickly accented and heavy. "Ah, Poison! Your dress is pretty!"
She chuckled, curtsying cutely. "Thanks, Hugo. Good to see you, you big potato!"
"Hehehe," he strode over, looking at me. It was intimidating. You never realize how big a man like Hugo really is until he's looking down at you from an insane height. "Who is skinny man?"
"Someone who is wondering how in the fuck I'm going to explain you," I admitted. Seriously, he was huge! How was I going to explain this to Eddard?
"Hugo is Hugo," the big guy said cheerfully, nodding a bit. Poison, next to him, did the same.
I rubbed my chin, thinking. The big guy, despite the cold air of winter around us, didn't seem to be shivering or anything, but I'd still need to get him clothes. Problem was, I didn't have anything that was really big enough for him that wasn't just a straight up blanket.
Also, damnit, I wished I didn't leave that Black Knight Greatsword at home!
"Hugo, you're a friend of Poison's that was waiting in the area for us." I decided after some thought.
"Should we say he's a dancer too?" Poison asked with a grin.
Hugo blinked. Then, making a show of it, he lifted his arms up and did a dainty twirl with a lot more balance and gracefulness than a man his size would usually display. "Yes, Hugo is a good dancer!"
"Or a strongman," I said. "We don't need to overexplain it. Hugo, how much do you know about this world?"
Poison had never seemed to have any real trouble adjusting. Something about the summoning? I'd thought of it as similar to summoning to Fate, where some kind of Akashic Record would shove the information into your brain, but I wasn't sure how true that was.
Hugo crossed arms as large as some men across his chest and hummed thoughtfully. "Ah… no potatoes."
"I… well, yeah, that's true." I said, glancing at Poison, who grinned and shrugged.
Hugo then reached into his pocket and grinned at me. "But look!"
He took out… oh no way.
"Hugo brought potatoes!" He said cheerfully, holding out the brown vegetable root for me to stare at. He then slumped when he reached into his pocket and only came up with two more. "Ah. Three. Only three potatoes."
"One is all we need," I said, aghast. "Potatoes are a huge deal. And this is a modern potato! Holy shit."
A potato alone was great. You could cook so many things with them, all healthy, they could grow in a whole host of conditions, and you could make a lot of them. They had insane yields. And this was a modern potato, apparently of different species! One cultivated by centuries of careful growth, by farmers with decades of experience and scientists with just as much knowledge.
"Oh great, there's two of them," Poison sighed as I took the potato into my hand with a bit of reverence.
"Don't listen to her, she doesn't understand." I whispered.
Hugo nodded, patting me on the back with a grin. The loud bang made me glad I was wearing armor, while my knees almost buckling made me glad my workouts and caveman strength kept me standing.
"Ah! Good! We will be great friends!"
Welp. That was one hell of a summoning. Also, once again, a 'low-level' summon had given me insane value.
"Let's head back for now. I want to see the look we get."
"Look?" Hugo asked curiously.
"Old gods preserve us!" One of the sailors, Bracks, squeaked when we came out of the woods. Hugo loomed over Poison and I like an ogre of myth, giving a dopey grin to everyone. "A monster!"
When Eddard, eyes wide in shock, reached for his sword, I stopped him with a raised hand. "Stop! He's friendly!"
Hugo raised a big hand and waved. "Hello!"
"Peter, who-" Eddard still kept a hand on his sword, staring up at Hugo. "Who is this?"
"My answer to the Mountain?" I said. When he gave me a very serious look, I sighed. "No humor to ya is there? This is Hugo."
"He's an old friend!" Poison cheerfully patted Hugo on his arm, smiling at Bracks, who was still on his butt from where he'd fallen over. "We used to be in the same dancing group."
"Dancing?" Eddard once again looked suspicious.
As an example, Poison leaped into the air, somersaulting twice before landing in Hugo's palm. Like a cheerleader landing on her support's hand.
"..." Bracks and the other sailors clapped, while Eddard just stared.
"You think that's impressive, you should see when we switch!" Poison said.
The others laughed. I, on the other hand, was trying to figure out how true that was.
"Anyways." I cut off the festivities. "Poison asked him to join up after we realized the war was starting. My house doesn't have any real fighters beyond myself, and I needed a small amount of muscle."
"...small. Yes." Eddard said suspiciously.
I rolled my eyes. "Lord Stark, if I was going to betray you, it would have been further up the river," I stepped into the ship, ignoring the wide-eyed look he gave me. I grabbed some of the extra blankets and came out with them, tossing them Hugo. While he didn't seem cold, he did take the blankets. "If you don't trust me, at least trust that I'm not stupid."
He winced. After a glance at Hugo, Poison, and I, he nodded tersely and sat down, finally taking his hand off his sword.
Good enough.
"Now, sleep. We have a storm to go through."
Author's Note: This is the last time there will be so many tickets outside of insanity. From here on, I'm AGGRESSIVELY parring down on tickets.
Because while it was fun to give them for jokes and such, he does not need them as much anymore. So I'll be going through the future chapters and making sure to severely limit the pulls.
That said, all the tickets from this chapter are awesome. But Hugo is the real prize.
And if you don't know Hugo, know that he is a potato obsessed Street Fighter. Like, the guy is genuinely crazy for the root vegetable, and usually has them on his person in some capacity in the lore.
He is also a weirdo fighter, a huge unit, and one of Poison's best friends.
You know how much I freaked out when I heard my friend pulled him? It was insane!
Now, I'm going to let the chapter marinate and see thoughts, then go back and make edits if I have to... also, for some reason, when I was editing, the doc replaced 'Ned' with 'Eddard'. Like, instead of 'scorned' it was 'scorEddard'. I think I fixed it, but let me know.